


Gotcha Love

by timelordangel



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Crystal Gems, Established Relationship, F/F, First Time, Shapeshifting, more funny than anything sexy, the title is after an estelle song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:35:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timelordangel/pseuds/timelordangel
Summary: When Greg and Rose announce their pregnancy, Garnet wonders if Ruby and Sapphire can accomplish the same thing.
Relationships: Garnet/Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe), Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe)
Kudos: 32





	Gotcha Love

Rose tells the other Crystal Gems on the last day of the year. Garnet blinks once, twice, a third time, even, and then walks outside of the temple, indifference flooding one half of her as the screen door slams shut. 

She stares out at the ocean and feels unbalanced; it’s rare for her gems to be this out of sync. Ruby’s voice comes clear: a resolute apathy toward the pregnancy and anger at the thought of Rose giving no warning, hurt at the thought of the pain this would cause Pearl, and a general air of confusion over what exactly a baby  _ is _ .

The other half of her is cold and unusual, and she has to pause and unwind the spindles of herself to form two separate thoughts. It’s a little uncomfortable, even with five thousand years of practice, but the difficulty stems from the  _ lack _ of disagreement… there are simply conflicting energies inside of her.

When she focuses on Sapphire’s mood, a chill runs down her spine. She’s a little angry, but about  _ what _ ? 

Garnet grits her teeth. She takes a steadying inhale and closes her eyes. This isn’t a big enough quarrel to unfuse out of anger, not this time, but she seeks clarity. She lets the confusing energy wash over her. The second it takes over, she recognizes the uncomfortable yearning flooding through her and takes a startled breath. 

**Envy** . Fierce, tight, angry, envy. 

“Oh,” Garnet places a hand to her face. “Oh.”

Amethyst had chased Pearl into her room after the news, leaving Rose and Greg alone in the living room. Garnet reenters the house and stalks up to the couple nervously worrying over each other. She’s got a big list of things to chastise Rose about, and getting this close reminds her that she’s the only one of the group even close to Rose’s height. She taps her forehead and disengages her sunglasses, but when she opens her mouth all that comes out is-

“Tell me how you did it!” She snaps.

Rose looks startled, her peachy mouth falling open in shock. “I- I did what?”

“Garnet, are you asking how we made a baby?” Greg rubs the back of his neck. 

“I don’t know much about the way humans generate, but you’re not even a human, Rose,” Garnet’s voice is deceptively calm. “So tell me how you did it.”

“I dunno, this seems kind of private,” Greg says meekly. 

“Well,” Rose nervously giggles, looping her arm through Greg’s. “When a gem and a human love each other very much…”

“Rose, knock it off. I’m not in the mood for jokes,” Garnet says. 

“Garnet, back off, would ya? We had no idea if this would even work, we’re kinda in shock here. Besides, I don’t exactly feel comfortable giving you a play by play,” Greg says firmly.

“I’m not even entirely sure what happened myself,” Roes shrugs, oblivious. 

“Fine, I’ll just go console Pearl,” Garnet glares at the two of them. 

“I’ll talk to her, I’m sure she’s fine,” Rose waves a hand to feign nonchalance, her downturned eyes betraying her. 

* * *

“She’s made quite the mess of things, hasn’t she? I hope it’s worth it,” Amethyst is cross-legged in her room, conjuring more and more tissues for Pearl, who is across from her curled into a ball. 

“A baby!” Pearl wails, another torrent of emotions washes over her.

Garnet hates being in Amethyst’s room but she tolerates it this once, approaching and sliding to the floor. “Hello Amethyst. Hello Pearl.” 

“Hey Garnet. You plan to stay here for a while? ‘Cause, well, I don’t think Pearl’s getting up anytime soon,” Amethyst nods toward the sobbing gem.

“I can’t stay long, I’ve got to figure something out. I wanted to ask if either of you knew how they did it?” 

Pearl stops crying long enough to look up and give a watery-eyed look of bewilderment. “Who did what?”

“How did Rose become pregnant?!” Garnet throws her hands up, only to lower them quickly as Pearl’s face crumples once again.

“I think they shapeshifted, dude. Like bam, round stomach, baby inside,” Amethyst promptly shapeshifts into a large ball with a head and promptly rolls toward a mountain of garbage. Garnet watches her smash into it and deflate slowly.

“No, it’s real,” Garnet sighs and stares for a while at Pearl. “It’s not exactly something I can just Google.”

“I’m sure there’s some sex ed websites you can find,” Amethyst laughs. “Why’s it got you all hot and bothered, anyway?” 

Garnet huffs and lies, “I just want to know, that’s all.”

“They probs shape-shifted the right bits onto the right places and did the right things with ‘em. Barf. I don’t know why they want a baby anyway. Seems like the worst part of being a human.” 

Garnet frowns. Shape shifting? Were her gems even capable of that for any significant length of time? She guesses she’s going to have to find out. 

“Pearl, pull yourself together. Human babies are as impermanent as all humans. What you and Rose have together will long outlast any organic matter on this planet. I have to go now,” Garnet gets up in one fluid motion and is gone before she even knows if her words helped. 

She finds herself in the depths of the temple, for all intents and purposes, hiding. She waits there until the house is quiet, and sneaks out to the beach by the cover of night. She feels silly, standing on the sand and watching the waves crash sleepily onto the shore. With a great effort, she unfuses.

“Wow,” Ruby’s eyes go wide the second they land on Sapphire. “You want a baby? A real baby?”

Sapphire goes a bit pink and turns toward the ocean. “You seemed pretty into it too.”

“I want anything you want,” Ruby affirms.

“Alright, then,” Sapphire begins, “we’ve just got to do it.” 

“Do what?” Ruby squints, her hands messing together. “What are the right bits? What are the right places?!” 

“I don’t know, okay! Gems aren’t supposed to be able to do this stuff, but Rose did!” Sapphire buries her face in her hands. “We have to figure this out. Can we get a book?” 

“I’ll get you a book,” Ruby nods, taking Sapphire’s hand into hers to tug her close.

Sapphire swirls into the hug and spins Ruby around in one quick motion, sending them seamlessly back into Garnet. She sits down on the sand with a small, relieved sigh, moving to place one of her hands directly over her stomach. She’d have to wait for the library to open.

* * *

“Garnet, meet us at the warp pad!” Amethyst yells, but her voice is playful without any hint of danger.

“I can’t!” Garnet responds, “I’m going to the library.”

“The lib-what now?” Amethyst screeches to a halt. “Okay weirdo. Come on Rose and Pearl, let’s go get more rocks to throw at those little lizards!” 

Garnet ignores the slight draw toward the warp pad and stalks to Beach City Library. 

“Hey Garnet,” Vidalia waves at her from the small coffee shop in the entrance of the library.

“Hi Vidalia. Can’t talk, on a mission.” 

“A mission for,” her voice drops to a whisper, “saving Beach City?”

“No, a personal mission.” 

“Can I help?” Vidalia offers, and only then does Garnet notice baby Sour Cream in his carrier. 

Garnet halts and looks at Vidalia, and then Sour Cream, and then back to Vidalia. She cocks her head and holds her chin. “You might just be the most helpful thing I’ve found yet.”

Garnet declines coffee and sits across from the new mother, staring at the bundle of life in her arms. Finally, she speaks. “I’ve decided to make one of those.”

Vidalia smiles. “A baby?”

“Yes, a baby. But a gem baby, not like what you’ve got.” 

“What’s a gem baby?” Vidalia takes a sip of her coffee and bounces Sour Cream a few times. 

“I don’t actually know. Until yesterday I didn’t think they existed at all. But-” Garnet falters, certain she must keep Rose's news a secret for now. “But something has changed. It’s possible. I’m here to do research; I just need to figure out how. So tell me, how did you make-,” She gestures toward the baby. 

“Ha! What a question. Well, I got married to his father first. You need two to tango,” Vidalia shrugs. 

“I am two people,” Garnet holds up both of her gems. “Next.”

Vidalia looks puzzled, but laughs. “Okay, then you get naked together, and, well, you know,”

“I don’t. I don’t know,” Garnet blinks behind her sunglasses. 

“The- male bit goes in the- the female bit and-” Vidalia starts to sweat. “You know what? I bet there’s some great books on this. Full color diagrams.” 

Garnet frowns. “I don’t get why you humans are so unable to explain the very thing you’ve evolved to want to do most. I’ll take this from here. Thanks, Vidalia.”

Garnet looks ahead and the chooses the most likely categories for her to find helpful books. She picks out a book from each of the of Erotic Fiction, Anatomy, and Children’s Learning sections and checks out quickly, making it home before the rest of the crew has returned. She spreads out the books on the living room table and starts with the most alluring, the dark covered erotic fiction. 

She flips through pages of what is obviously a man writing about a plain adult human woman living a plain adult human life. She frowns and skips to the middle of the book where she is suddenly tied up and being-  _ what is happening in this book! _ She slams it shut. 

The anatomy book is good at giving shape-shifting ideas for the right bits _and_ the right places, but there’s a piece missing to this puzzle. She goes for the children’s education book next.

“Ah, I see,” Garnet nods at the simple drawings, surrounded by words like ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’. This book is purely educational, without any of the detail of the anatomy book, and very high level, but it works. She smiles slowly as she cocks her head and watches the pale drawings mount each other.

“We’re BAAACCCK!” Amethyst hollers as they zap back on the warp pad, her arms filled with tiny stones. “Garnet, move all this stuff, I need room for my rocks! Say, what is any of this?"

“Yeah, Garnet, what are these?” Rose hums, flitting over to the table to grab at a book. 

“They’re none of your business,” Garnet tries to gather the books but fails as Pearl picks up the last children’s book. 

“Why are you so obsessed with how it happened!” Rose explodes, tears welling up in her big eyes as she understands what Garnet is reading about. “It just happened, it’s like my body was so drawn to him that it knew exactly what it needed to be for him in the moment!” 

Pearl freezes and sets her jaw. “I didn’t ask to be reminded of this every second, Garnet.”

“It’s just weird at this point, I mean-” Amethyst shrugs.

Garnet feels panic flood her veins but her parts are whole, and Ruby’s essence is there with the heat before she can stop it. “This isn’t about you, Rose! Or you, Pearl! This is about  _ me _ , and what  _ we _ want! Leave me alone!” 

Everyone goes quiet for a long while, giving space for Garnet to gather her books and stalk to her room. “Don’t come looking for me.”

* * *

She was just going to do it. This was for Ruby and Sapphire, after all. They deserved to try.

She unfuses the second she conjures a large, white queen bed in the middle of the room. Ruby and Sapphire flop onto opposite sides and take several breaths together, hands finding each other in the middle. 

“Would you like to try to make a baby?” Ruby asks softly. 

Sapphire nods, slowly shimming out of her long blue dress, exposing herself for the first time in thousands of years. Ruby follows, tugging off her shirt and shorts. 

“We gonna shapeshift?” Ruby asks softly, witnessing Sapphire’s body unclothed for the first time. It’s more intricate than her own, less square around the edges. Her blue skin is soft, and Ruby feels a phantom pull deep inside of her. The same pull that wants her to be as close to Sapphire as possible.

“A little bit. I’ve already tried,” Sapphire blushes. She presses her legs together and it feels different down there, warm and wanting.

“Does that mean I need the other bit?” Ruby swallows, her mouth suddenly dry.

“Whatever you want, Ruby,” Sapphire says.

She tries her best to make the corresponding bit, in her mind it’s as long and wonky as any of the ones in the books, but she’s self conscious… until she sees Sapphire staring. 

“It’s strange to see you so uncertain, honey,” Sapphire smiles sweetly, reminding Ruby that this is her person. This is her entire world. 

“That’s because I’m never uncertain about you, Sapphy, I do everything so confidently because I know you’re there with me,” Ruby gets it now, about being so in love with someone that your body knows what to do. She sees Sapphire lying back on the sheets with that sweet smile and mounts her love like the book told her to, pushing her hair out of her eye as she straddles her. “Did you see this coming?”

Sapphire blushes and squirms as Ruby ruts against her newly shape shifted warmth between her legs. “It was a path. I never thought I’d be so into it,” She giggles.

“It’s all wet down there! Are you okay?!” Ruby’s eyes go wide, her hips unable to stop their unpracticed movements.    
  
“Yes, it’s supposed to be, go inside, Rube,” Sapphire’s a little breathy, her face flushed as crimson as Ruby has ever seen it. 

“You want me to?” Ruby worries, running her hands down Sapphire’s body. “I know we’re not supposed to behave like this, as gems, but you look really pretty like this, Sapph.” 

“Yes, do it, I’m not sure how much longer I can hold this form,” she strains, her mouth falling open.

Ruby’s form is easier to hold, it’s just an appendage, so she takes control and slides smoothly into Sapphire. It doesn’t feel like anything to Ruby, but Sapphire’s breath hitches and she cries out with her head back, her hands reaching out to firmly grab Ruby’s arms. _That_ definitely does something for Ruby.

“Is that okay?!” Ruby cries.

“It’s great, keep going,” Sapphire’s words become slurred and her eye turns dreamy.

“No fusing, Sapphy, we’ve gotta do this apart,” Ruby huffs, picking up speed to see Sapphire whine against the tug. 

“I want to fuse with you, Ruby, I want your warmth, please, _oh_ ,” Sapphire clenches and twists her legs around Ruby’s, bringing them both to a shudder- stop- standstill. All at once she ejects Ruby’s makeshift length as her own form reverts back and she claws to get her hands on her girlfriend. 

“Nothing happened yet!” Ruby holds her back, ignoring the yearning in her chest to be fused again.

“Everything happened!” Sapphire laughs loudly, throwing herself onto Ruby and relishing in the feeling of what comes after.

Garnet has to catch her breath for the first time in a millennia.    
  
“Wow,” She smiles to herself. “That was certainly a hands on learning experience.”

\- 

  
“Garnet, I wanted to apologize for earlier,” Pearl finds her in the kitchen with hands nervously touching.

“No need, Pearl. I did my research, and learned what I wanted to learn, and now we wait,” Garnet says matter-of-fact-ly. 

“What does that mean?” Pearl frowns.

“Sorry, Pearl, that’s much too personal to share,” Garnet winks. 

* * *

“You know, Steven, I did try and have my own gem baby once,” Garnet says casually to the thirteen year old playing on the floor.

“You did? I thought gems didn’t have children,” Steven says.

“You never told us you tried!” Amethyst laughs before shoving more chips into her face. 

“Amethyst, shush! We can’t have entirely gem children, but I knew that  _ you _ were on the way. Nobody knew what you would be, Steven. And that gave me some hope that it was possible for me, too,” Garnet explains, watching Steven react.

“Well, do you still want a baby?” Steven asks. “You can probably adopt.”

“I think I’m alright with the kid I have,” Garnet replies softly, earning a laugh as she pats Steven on the head.


End file.
